A Strange But Effective Villainess Life - Chapter 129

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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Chapter 129
All the stagnant figures at the Academy who had been obsessed with politics and patents had vanished. In their place, the doctoral researchers whom Alex had saved were somehow managing to keep the Academy afloat.
“Your Highness, welcome!”
“To think you’ve returned to this place… We all believed you had abandoned the Academy.”
“Please, you’re most welcome. The Academy has always been waiting for you.”
They trembled before me while wearing expressions of genuine joy. And I, in turn, answered them honestly because I was equally glad to see them.
“I did abandon it, though.”
“But, Your Highness! All those pompous fools who tormented you have disappeared!”
“Still.”
I spoke the truth while cradling Piyak in my arms.
“Suppose the Dean had suddenly said one day, ‘Kiana Prelai will be captured by the Empire, so pretend you know nothing about it.'”
“Pardon? Why such an absurd hypothetical all of a sudden…?”
“Then you would have all heard those words and held your breath, deceiving me together. So when you greet me so warmly like this, it makes me a bit uncomfortable, doesn’t it?”
“No, no, Your Highness!”
“Of course we wouldn’t do such a thing!”
“Absolutely not! We would never!”
The newly appointed professors rushed to deny my words, even though they had acted exactly that way before my regression. Still, I harbored no resentment toward them. They couldn’t have ignored the Dean’s wishes to protect someone they weren’t particularly close to. That’s simply how life works.
However, Dennis, whom I had appointed as the next Dean, rolled his eyes and muttered quietly.
“Your Highness must surely have some lingering attachment to your studies.”
True to form—he remained a diligent doctoral student even under the worst circumstances. Though I felt a pang of guilt inwardly, I responded with deliberate arrogance, crossing my arms.
“Anyway, Alex should have rented out a storage room here for me, right?”
“Ah, yes! That’s correct!”
In fact, that was the reason I had made this detour on my way north.
“There should be a letter on my desk addressed to a doctor named Dennis Icallan at the Academy. He’s a good and capable man who’s been stuck as a perpetual doctoral student, crushed by politics. Take that letter and deliver it to Dennis.”
I had previously sent a letter to Alex through Piyak.
“…It’s a method to save my father at an appropriate time. The timing is perfect right now, so you must deliver it to the Academy without fail.”
There was a reason I had asked Alex to ‘not destroy the entire Academy and keep Dennis alive.’ And Dennis had handled his duties remarkably well.
I transferred the items I had stockpiled in the storage room onto a large cargo wagon brought from the Prelai Ducal Residence. Thanks to Riloni Academy’s affordable storage rental, I was able to bring down House of Purbis as well.
“Here.”
I handed over a generous amount of gold coins to the Academy’s new representative.
“For the storage rental and the items.”
Of course, the storage rental had been cheap, but the items themselves were extraordinarily expensive. That’s why I had asked Sezare to sell me diamonds. Purchasing these items required an enormous sum of money.
These were items developed a year ago when the Academy had received a commission. They were so expensive that the people who had commissioned them never actually purchased them. The Dean had said that if we lowered the price, it would create problems in future negotiations for other items, so he instructed us to simply keep them for now. In any case, he was someone with an innate talent for handling money.
Regardless, these items had simply accumulated as inventory at the Academy afterward. And their price never decreased. From the start, they were items the Academy had no intention of discounting—if they didn’t sell, they didn’t sell. That’s why I needed so much money to pay the full expensive price by myself.
‘Thank you, Sezare.’
I tilted my head as the thought crossed my mind.
Wait… The reason I could afford this money was because of those mysterious diamonds, which were in place of the sacred relic on the goddess statue.
‘Sezare naturally would have taken the sacred relic, and this, this…’
I clicked my tongue inwardly at the truth I could now deduce.
‘It seems Sezare deliberately left behind these diamonds. So I ended up selling them back to Sezare for money…’
That’s why he kept insisting I keep it rather than sell it to him, hopping about in agitation.
‘This really does make me uncomfortable.’
I let out a deep sigh and reconsidered.
‘Still, I’m grateful.’
Just because my heart felt uneasy didn’t mean I’d regurgitate the money I’d received. Discomfort was something I could simply endure. After all, people were never meant to live in perfect comfort.
In any case, my business at the Academy was finished.
My time at the Academy wasn’t entirely wasted, was it, Kiana? I made quite efficient use of it.
Piyak chirped merrily from atop my head.
But that bed was the worst. Kiana, never go to a place like the Academy again.
“How long were you even at the Academy anyway…”
Regardless, Piyak likes the Prelai Manor best—where money has been well invested for generations. I’m saying this because I see such longing overflowing in Kiana’s eyes as you look back at the Academy.
“What…”
I shrugged my shoulders once and turned to gaze back at the Academy.
It was a place that had given me the worst memories, but…the scholarship itself bore no fault.
Though the experience had vanished with my regression, I found it difficult to forget the overwhelming emotion when I first became a Professor here. The thrill of teaching students for the first time. The memories of debating with people who shared the same passion for Magical Engineering.
There were truly miserable things that happened, but Magical Engineering itself bore no fault. Among the people of the Empire who all turned away saying Magical Engineering was too difficult, I genuinely found myself missing the scholarly atmosphere of the Academy from time to time.
“…There’s no reason to return now.”
But still, I had no intention of returning to the Riloni Principality. Not even if everything were resolved. Alex had apparently handled all the related people, but I wasn’t cool-headed enough for that.
Really? Then never come back here again. Piyak is so anxious seeing Kiana’s face look so wistful.
“I can’t help but have lingering feelings. I love research, after all.”
I turned away with a heavy heart. Thinking about it any deeper would only wound my spirit.
“Well then, we should depart. Grandfather and Joshua must be waiting eagerly.”
And I began to chase after the group that was already heading toward Julius’s estate.
Soon I would be able to save my father.
I had often seen my father’s portrait that remained in the Prelai Manor. He was truly a handsome man—refined and impeccable. With calm blonde hair and delicate facial features, his gaze was deep and profound. His dignified attire and the aristocratic bearing of his upright posture left a striking impression.
“Prince Alex resembles the Duke, and the Princess resembles Enes greatly. And Joshua resembles Hyde quite a bit in appearance!”
I recalled the Head Maid’s enthusiastic explanation.
“Of course, he’s far more refined in appearance than Joshua, has better fashion sense, and is far more sensible in temperament!”
If that were true, the portrait had certainly failed to capture all of my father’s beauty.
A warm moment when my father held me high in his arms existed vaguely and fragmentarily in my memories. Beyond that, I had almost no memories with my father, but still, I felt we could get along well. Both the Butler and the Head Maid had agreed that “Hyde is an extremely sensible and rational person.” Having never experienced such a person in this household, I felt even more anticipation.
“For some reason, I think his bearing and demeanor might be similar to Sezare’s. He was apparently a very neat and dignified person.”
I spoke strangely excitedly, looking into Piyak’s eyes. And Piyak tilted his head and replied.
Then by now he must have become a very neat and dignified barbarian.
“…What?”
Hasn’t he been deprived of the benefits of civilization for 17 years?
“I, I suppose so?”
Suddenly, a very ominous premonition struck me. Joshua’s habitual phrase—”Where is there a normal person among the Prelais?”—echoed like a curse.
In any case, carrying my anxiety with it, the carriage steadily rushed northward.
As we traveled further north, the weather grew increasingly cold. And when we arrived at Prelai Castle, which Julius guarded, thick snowflakes were already swirling through the air.
One more thing—I could see a brilliant green light intermittently shooting into the sky from far away. It was a distress signal sent by my father’s summoned beast.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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